Vegan pizza

The crust is whole wheat, a little sugar and salt and then yeast and water. I rolled it out and punched out circles to put in muffin tins. The sauce is puréed tomatoes, cooked carrots and beets with Italian seasoning and a tiny amount of salt. The filling is broccoli and onion. It was actually pretty good but of course I added cheese for Ben and Beth!

I made ham and pineapple ones for my family also. It was fun to them in muffin tins- it helped me with portion control!

A new fav breakfast and a normal lunch

I do 1/4 c oatmeal with 1/2 c water and microwave for 1.5 mins. Then I add 1/4 c orange juice- I just squeeze half an orange over it. Then an apple chopped up and a few dashes of pumpkin pie spice. It tastes like apple cider at Christmas time except totally sugar free! Mnnn

I haven't used salad dressing in a long time- I just add seasoned cooked veggies to eat my salad with or I'll eat it with fruit. 

Sweet potato quesadillas

Shred 4 sweet pot and an onion and steam with 2 tab cumin. I cooked an uncooked wheat tortilla because they make it so much better! You are supposed to top with mango salsa bit I just threw in my salsa with extra cilantro in the potato mix because it's easier to eat that way. It no added salt or oil so add some if you need it but I thought it was fine without.

Ruth update

Another perk of this diet-

Beth is eating lots more veggies too since she sees me eating so many! Wahoo for being healthy!!!

My BBQ tofu fajhitas

My presidents day project

My friend has a cricut so she helped me print out these two vinyl sayings. I'm happy with the way they turned out. The one in our room I'll surround with pictures of us.

Presidents day home project

These lights were so old and broken- they only worked some of the time and the plastic coverings were ugly and broken! Ben replaced the ballasts so the lights now turn on when you want them too! And we got new coverings that are way better! Thanks Ben!

Pesto lasagna

Pesto lasagna- instead of a ton of cheese it's pesto (pine nuts, fresh basil and seasonings with oil) with spinach, eggplant and tomato sauce.

Lunch

I make black bean burgers a lot. They are a staple for lunches for me now- I layer it up with sandwich fixings and instead of condiments I use hummus. Hummus is a new staple for us- thank goodness I found a good recipe! (our grocery budget has actually gone way down without buying meat and dairy as much!) I just need to get Ben on the bandwagon with me but he likes meat too much!

My wannabe vegan diet

I guess I'll post this since it's been a pretty big deal for me in the last 3 months. I eat fruits and veggies like crazy. I eat about a serving of meat a week (at the most). I eat very little dairy. I eat lots of beans and nuts. And I even started exercising. And the results are that I've lost 30 lbs! Wahoo!

Typical breakfasts:
smoothies (always with either spinach, kale, beet or pumpkin) no sugar just lots of fruit and some non dairy milk

Oatmeal with so much fruit it doesn't need sugar

Toast loaded with no sugar applesauce

Lunch:
Black bean burgers or wraps with so many veggies it's overflowing :)

Dinner:
Salads and soups and veggies prepared in about every way possible!

We started getting bountiful baskets (whole foods co-op) every Saturday and it's a huge help- lots of different fruits and veggies that provide variation for cheap! And motivation to eat all of it in only 1 week before we get more!

Any whole foods vegan recipes or ideas are welcomed!

Ben's the best ever...

It would be way cheesy if I went on about all the amazing things he does for our family. but he really is- here's a little proof!

the holidays

 our christmas angel! ruth was baby Jesus but we didn't take pictures I guess :(  she was super cute! 

new years eve dinner at Lambs

celebrating our 4 year anniversary at the Cheesecake factory- my new fav restaurant FOR SURE! 

Ruth is 6 months old!!!

 she is already moving wayyy more than beth did at this age! I think Beth will be a little more calm and ruthy just may be a little more rambunctious... we'll see!

This is Ruthy favorite game- playing with the balloons with Beth- she is so quick to laugh!

Cindy's shower

these are taken at the very end so it's a little messy but it was a great shower with lots of Cindy's family and friends.

Beth's first haircut

isn't she cute?! she is so sweet and talking up a storm- her favorite songs are wheels on the bus and old McDonald had a farm. she still gives lots of hugs and kisses and is a pretty good eatter. Ben and I really enjoy her in our family.

anyway- as you can tell her hair was getting a little long and whispy so I tried to cut it and... it was really bad !! I took her to a salon and was surprised at how well she sat there while they fixed what I had done! Now it's short but cute!- look at the aquarium pics below to see what it looks like now!

the zoo and aquarium

there are perks to my job (being a mom) and that is that we have lots of fun! hip hip hooray for the free day at the zoo with cousins and our super cheap annual pass to the aquarium!